Fade in, int. hospital, night
Images are projected onto a wall. The images consist of a montage of cyclones, hurricanes and aggressive winds. they begin slightly turbulent and then become increasingly irate, until the eye of the storm appears, which is immediately slowed down. the winds die down and the projection fades out.
The room is resembles a very plain bedroom, with few personal effects, a young women, DOROTHY, 25, is lying on a big bed, the sheets look very clean and Dorothy is hardly moving at all.
fade out.
INT.hospital day
Two male voices can be heard in loud whispers, one of them is sobbing whilst the other sounds reassuring, Dorothy’s eyes open but everything is blurred, she can only see the outline of the two characters against the light of day.
The two men, LION and TINMAN, hush suddenly as they realise that Dorothy’s eyes are open. TinMan leans in very close to Dorothy, though she can barely make out his features, his voice sounds restricted as he speaks to her, as if from the corner of his mouth.
LION
But I want to go back…
Tinman
shh, shh, shh! …Don’t worry Dorothy… we’ll look after you. We’ve got a way back.
Dorothy passes out again.
INT.HOSPITAL DAY
Dorothy wakes up, in the same clean room, her eyes snap open and she sits straight up. she looks round at her surroundings in confusion, she feels her long hair, looks at her fingers, she looks across the room at a dresser with a mirror, she cannot see her face in it, so pulls back the sheets and swings her body round to get off the bed. As soon as she tries to stand up she falls to the floor. She stays there for a second then looks back up at the mirror and starts to pull her self across the floor.
The door clicks open and NURSE, 30, walks into the room, she looks at the bed and then to the floor, without saying a word she goes to pull Dorothy up off the floor and seconds later Dorothy is tucked back into the covers. The Nurse, without looking back leaves the room. Dorothy tries to call to her but finds she cannot say anything, she bangs her chest in frustration and looks frightened as she looks towards the windows, which are covered in blinds, letting in a concentration of light.
INT.HOSPITAL DAY
Later that same day, Dorothy is sitting up in her bed by herself, looking up at the ceiling in thought. A man, in his late 50s walks swiftly into the room, this is DOCTOR OSBORNE, the nurse follows him in, from their clothes and hairstyles it looks like the 1950s.
dr. osborne
Ah! Dorothy, nurse told me you were awake, you’ve been asleep a long time, we thought you were going to be our sleeping beauty forever.
As he continues to talk too quickly for her to comprehend, he leans in very close to her, flashing lights in her eyes, looking into her ears and concluding of feeling her pulse.
DR. OSBORNE
Well, apart from having a fast pulse, you seem perfectly fine, tell me Dorothy do you know how you got here?
Dorothy takes a moment to realize he has asked her a question, she then looks at him and opens her mouth, only to cough.
DR. OSBORNE
Do you remember me at all? I saw you the after the accident, do you remember? bad luck for such a little lady to have that happen at such a young age. Do you remember your auntie EM and uncle HENRY?
This time he actually pauses for an answer, though once he notices Dorothy’s confusion, he leans in very close to Dorothy.
DR. OSBORNE
How about me, Dorothy? can you remember my name?
Dorothy
…W…W…No.
DR. OSBORNE
Hmm… seems there is more damage than appears on your… pretty little surface.
He takes a moment to brush her cheek with the back of his hand and pronounces each word in a lingering drool. The nurse clears her throat.
DR. OSBORNE
Hm? oh yes, well lots to do Miss Gale, so little time and lots of patients to see, but I’ll pop in on you tomorrow. How about some radio music?
The Nurse and Doctor leave, but not before he turns to look look Dorothy up and down before he leaves the room. The nurse walks over to the radio and turns it on. Nurse keeps turning the radio tuner, some music plays, others are of news reports, more music. She stops on one of the music channels, as a song fades out a radio presenter briefly announces:
Radio Presenter
…and today happens to be the tenth anniversary the tornado that hit Kan…
The nurse turns the radio to another station of just music, decides against it, turns off the radio and leaves the room.
INT.HOSPITAL night
Dorothy is asleep, until she hears someone in the corridor outside, laughing a high pitch, almost cackle. Dorothy wakes up immediately and shivers. Like a deer in the headlights, she is frozen and wide eyed, silent tears begin to fall down her cheeks.
INT.HOSPITAL DAY
The next morning Dorothy is still awake, clutching her sheets tightly, looking extremely tired. Her eyes are finding it hard to keep open. Until the nurse marches in, she strips down the bed sheets and leaves the room. Dorothy is left, legs rigid and arms held tightly to her chest.
INT.HOSPITAL DAY
Later that day, Dorothy wakes up with the Doctor sitting on the end of her bed, Nurse is standing by her side, she feels trapped as they stand too close to her. She notices Nurse’s long red nails, her arms crossed and she is tapping her long nails, Dorothy notices that one of them is chipped.
DR. OSBORNE
Dorothy! how are we doing today? did you work on what you remember?
Dorothy looks down at her own hands, avoiding the Doctors unblinking eye contact. He places his own hand on hers, he looks as if he is trying to be comforting, but it seems sinister and invasive to Dorothy.
DR. OSBORNE
I’m here to help you Dorothy… we all are… Nurse says you haven’t been eating, it’s important to build up your strength, you want to be stronger don’t you? you’ve got a lot of things to catch up on…
DOROTHY
How old am I?
[beat] the Doctor pulls back his hand and looks down at his clipboard.
DR. OSBORNE
That’s not something for you to deal with right now, you’ll visit, what we call a psychiatrist, when we know you are physically fit, which is what we need to work on at this present time. Now what I need you to do, is start eating solids, all the food that Nurse gives to you…
DOROTHY
please… what year is it?
DR. OSBORNE
…and plenty of fluids, in fact we’ll get you some water now and maybe some fresh orange juice, how does that sound?
Dorothy looks out of the window, ready to cry.
DR. OSBORNE
right… well Nurse, some water for Miss Gale.
They both go to leave the room, Dorothy continues to keep her head turned towards the window, biting her lip. Dr. Osborne stands up and lingers a little, then leaves briskly.
INT.HOSPITAL NIGHT
Dorothy is asleep in her bed, she looks thin and gaunt, there is a rustling outside her door, she opens her eyes and hears two people walk into the room, she pretends to sleep in case it is the doctor or nurse.
the two people shuffle in slightly,one is sniffing something out, the other is hushing the other.
Dorothy feels the heavy weight of one of them sitting on the end of he bed onto her feet, the other stands by her side.
TINMAN
Shhhh, we’ll have to wait until she wakes up.
lion
I want to wake her, we should wake her. We should do it now.
Lion reaches out to touch her, Dorothy opens her eyes and sits up quickly. Lion yelps a little and shuffles to the other end of the bed. TinMan smiles as much as his face muscles will let him. They too are wearing hospital robes.
TINMAN
Dorothy! you’re awake, we were starting to worry you weren’t going to wake up! We had tried everything!
Dorothy looks at the snivelling heap at the end of her bed, an old man with mad hair and a big beard and then up at the slightly emaciated, thin man speaking out of the corner of his mouth, jaw tightly shut. She squints her face in slight recognition, until a broad smile covers her face.
DOROTHY
Tin…?
He nods at her encouragingly
DOROTHY
Man?…and… LION?!
TINMAN
Oh Dorothy! see Lion, I told you she would remember you!
DOROTHY
But what has happened to you? you poor things, you look so different, what happened?
TINMAN
We came back with you, all that time ago.
LION
HE DIED, HE DIED BECAUSE OF YOU- I SMELL YOUR FEAR AND YOUR SWEAT, YOU LITTLE…
TINMAN
LION!
Lion looks at them both, ashamed and embarrassed and begins to cry.
TINMAN
Come on Lion, we know you dind’t mean it, just calm down….
DOROTHY
Scarecrow?
[beat]
TINMAN
The important thing is, we are back together now and we can concentrate on getting back…
He trails off and Dorothy looks down, she reaches out to Lion
DOROTHY
I’m sorry Lion… I’m so so sorry.
Lion crawls over to Dorothy and rests his head in her palms, quiet and content. TinMan walks to the window to look through the blinds
TINMAN
But we have a way, it will just take time…
DOROTHY
TinMan, can you get me the mirror please?
TINMAN
Is that a good idea do you think?
DOROTHY
please… I need to see, it’s been so long.
TinMan walks over to the dresser, he picks up the mirror and slowly walks over to Dorothy. She thanks him and takes it, she lifts the mirror slowly to her eye level, she looks calm at first until her hand trembles to touch her skin and starts to look at the others, she drops the mirror, she looks around helplessly, not knowing what to do or where to look. She is sobbing loudly, TinMan tries to hush her, but she pushes him away.
A light comes on in the corridor, TinMan grabs Lion and they duck under the bed, they see the white sneakers of the nurse come in, TinMan puts a hand over Lions mouth. The Nurse stands in the doorway, only her outline can be seen. She first looks at the floor and then at Dorothy, then over to the dresser, Dorothy is still sobbing with her hand over her face. The nurse steps forward, picks up the broken pieces and leaves.
Dorothy keeps sobbing.
TINMAN
Dorothy, it’s okay, you’re still very beautiful…
She doesn’t reply just keeps sobbing. TinMan and Lion look at eachother.
TINMAN
we’ll leave you alone Dorothy, we’ll come back soon though…
LION
Goodnight Dorothy… I’m glad you’re alive, I mean, awake…
INT.HOSPITAL DAY
Dorothy wakes up to a breakfast of bacon and eggs in front of her, it looks very miserable and cold. Nurse stands over her, tapping her long fingernails rythmically, her chipped nail is restored. Nurses eyes narrow slightly. Dorothy looks at the tray of food and pushes it away, Nurse steps forward and starts to violently cut up the food, the cutlery scratching against the plate, Dorothy refuses to open her mouth. The Doctor comes in, the two women stop their scuffle and look at him, Dorothy takes this chance to push the food onto the floor, in spite.
DR. OSBORNE
Dorothy… we’re going to have to do it the hard way if you won’t eat any solid food, I really don’t want to have to do that to you, look at your pretty lips, they’re all… chapped.
As he says this, he goes in to touch her face, his hand traces her cheel bone and down to her lips, caressing her lower lip with his thumb. Her lips are almost the same colour of her skin; pale and they are split slightly. Her big eyes look up at him, he grins at her, then turns to the nurse.
DR. OSBORNE
If she doesn’t drink anything by tonight, then first thing in the morning I want to use the feeding tube.
Nurse nods and they go to leave the room, Dorothy looks out of the window. She uses her hand to rub off where he touched her.
DR. OSBORNE
On second thoughts, maybe electro-shock treatment would be more suitable.
They leave, the door is slammed slightly.
INT.HOSPITAL NIGHT
The door opens again and Lion and TinMan walk in. TinMan uses Lion as support for walking, Lion props him on the bed next to Dorothy.
Dorothy looks at TinMan and holds his hand, TinMan smiles as much as he can.
TINMAN
Sorry for being so tired Dorothy, but Lion had to tell you something.
She looks up at Lion expectantly and patiently, he fumbles with his beard and appears bashful, he then picks up a bit of forgotten bacon, from breakfast, hidden under the bed.
LION
We need to go back, I don’t want to be alone… If you died I don’t know what to do.
TinMan and Dorothy look at each other. Despite his bluntness, they know they are both incredibly ill.
DOROTHY
I want to go back to Lion, more than anything…but I can’t see how, unless another twister…
LION
well the winds, they helped us the other times
DOROTHY
It’s too dangerous… I’m sorry, I don’t want to give up hope, but I couldn’t lose either one of you.. not since…
they all stay in silence, Lion eats the rest of the bacon, noisily.
INT.HOSPITAL NIGHT
Dorothy’s being shaken awake by Lion
TINMAN
Wake up Dorothy!
Lion shakes her vigorously. Tinman is holding a pair of ruby red slippers. Dorothy’s eyes are wide open now.
There is a commotion outside, nurses running around.
DOROTHY
Quick put them on the floor
The shoes are put on the floor, but now they look like the white sneakers that the nurses wear. When she slips her feet into them she sees the red slippers. The noises from the corridor get louder and sound as if they are approaching her room, there is a sound of keys at her bedroom door. Lion pushes a chair in front of the door and locks it from the inside. They squeeze their eyes shut.Lion and TinMan sit either side of Dorothy, clasping her round her waist.
LION
please, please, please, please, please…
Dorothy grabs her right leg and awkwardly makes her heels knock into one another.
Cut to black
End.
